The present invention pertains generally to the organization and storage of flexible tubes and cables, and more particularly to devices for releasably constraining flexible tubes and cable together in a manner amenable to quick and easy storage and deployment.
The need to coil or bundle wires, cables, flexible tubes, ropes and hoses exists throughout industry and home life. Devices such as extension cords, cables, air hoses, ropes, and other long, flexible articles (hereinafter referred to generically as “cables”) present a storage problem, where coiled cables often become tangled due to the lack of constraints to keep the cables properly coiled. The traditional storage method is to wrap the cables around a person's elbow and between the thumb and forefinger.
Once the cable has been coiled, some means for retaining the strap in the coiled condition may be necessary to prevent the coiled cable from uncoiling or becoming tangled. External devices for retaining the cable in a coiled condition include straps which surround the cable to prevent it from becoming unbundled. Such straps may take the form of wire ties, plastic wire ties, or cable straps having a feature to allow the strap to be closed around a bundle. While each of these devices solve the problem of the cable becoming unbundled to one degree or another, each has the problem that the bundling device is physically separate from the cable being bundled, and accordingly may be lost. When these devices are attached to a cable, the devices may create features which snag on objects if the feature is pulled past such an object. Additionally, separate cable bundling devices may also require two hands for operation, such that releasing a coiled or bundled cable in order to operate the tie could allow the cable to become uncoiled or unbundled.
Alternately, the end of the coiled or bundled cable could be tied around the coil or bundle to keep the coil or bundle from uncoiling. In order to keep the end in place, a knot would typically be formed in the end of the cable to allow the cable end to be retained around the coiled or bundled cables. Such knots, however, may become difficult to untie, especially if the knot becomes over-tightened.